Several faculty and staff positions at Winthrop University have become vacant or temporarily filled as a result of the university enacting a hiring freeze in April 2020.
The hiring freeze was enacted by the Board of Trustees on April 3, 2020, as a result of impromptu budget deficits caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“These are not easy decisions to make, but they warranted to ensure that we have the resources to continue to engage in exceptional teaching, learning, and service, be an employer of choice and support our faculty and staff as we move into the future,” Interim President George Hynd said in a Winthrop news article.
“It’s really an outcome of us trying to manage our budget… our budget requires us to make difficult decisions. We’ve had a 10% percent budget cut. We froze most positions when they’re vacated, so when a faculty member or a staff member leaves, we’re not immediately filling those positions,” Hynd said in an interview on Jan 13.
Since then, many academic departments and divisions at Winthrop have been operating with certain faculty, staff, and coaching positions vacant. In many of these cases, the work that would have been normally covered by a single employee has
been evenly distributed amongst the current workers within a department, according to News and Media Service Manager Judy Longshaw.
One of the many departments that have been affected by the hiring freeze is the Athletics department, which is currently operating with just over 20% of its full-time positions vacant this year, according to Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Ken Halpin.
“We have permanently eliminated two full-time positions at the beginning of the fiscal year, and have an additional 12 positions that have been vacant this year so far,” Halpin said. “These vacancies have included coaches as well as administrators.
Many of these positions were left intentionally vacant because the only sports that have been competing have been men’s and women’s basketball.”
“We plan to leave many of these positions vacant for the remainder of the fiscal year in order to be as fiscally conscientious as possible, but we are filling a couple of positions now as we anticipate all of our sports beginning competition this semester. This has obviously created many challenges but I am so proud of our staff for remaining committed to their unwavering support of our student-athletes. They have truly banded together to continue operating with a commitment to excellence,” Halpin said.
Other departments with significant numbers of vacant staff include the Division of Academic Affairs with six vacancies, the Division of Student Affairs with five vacancies and facilities management with five vacant positions. Vice Presidents are continuing to operate in their respective departments at their fullest capabilities and are “closely monitoring the work within their divisions to ensure that areas continue to function effectively,” according to Longshaw.
Some key roles within certain departments have been filled by qualified, temporary employees until these positions can be permanently filled. These interim-held positions include the current Dean of Students, Director of Residence Life, Director of Institutional Effectiveness, and the Head Women’s Basketball Coach.
Hynd has said that though the pandemic has been the source of many abnormalities throughout the 2020-2021 academic year, administrative actions like the hiring freeze and furloughs will optimistically only be a one-time event.
Photo by Jamia Johnson
